Observer States

Council of Europe MONEYVAL Committee urges European governments to improve the implementation of anti-money laundering measures

Strasbourg, 26.06.2013 – The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body (MONEYVAL) today called on European governments to improve the implementation of measures for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing in the legal, financial and law enforcement fields.

In its annual report, published today, MONEYVAL reports that the countries it evaluates have broadly improved their technical compliance with international standards by enacting and reforming laws and regulations, in particular in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing offences.

However, MONEYVAL concludes that law enforcement and prosecutors need to do more in achieving serious money laundering convictions and in producing confiscation orders that have a deterrent effect in offences generating major proceeds. The Committee also stresses that there are still very few convictions of those third parties who launder proceeds on behalf of organised crime.

“Last week, the G8 leaders publicly committed to 8 principles for fighting money laundering and tax evasion, and to report on the action they take. All European states should follow these principles. In a Europe emerging from a global financial crisis, it is more important than ever that financial institutions do not accept clients or transactions unless they know who they are dealing with and the source of the funds that they are handling”, said the Chair of MONEYVAL, Anton Bartolo.

“If our financial institutions are tainted by funds which are proceeds of crime, then they pose risks to their own reputations, the reputations of their countries, and to the global financial system, which relies so much on confidence in our financial institutions”, he stressed.

In 2012 MONEYVAL carried out monitoring work in 22 jurisdictions, including the Holy See (including the Vatican City State), which was subject to the first evaluation.

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The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) is a Council of Europe body that assesses compliance with the relevant international and European standards to counter money laundering and terrorist financing and the effectiveness of their implementation and makes recommendations to national authorities in respect of necessary improvements to their systems. MONEYVAL monitors 33 jurisdictions including 28 Council of Europe states, the HolySee, Israel and the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.